Noord - A Good Bread on Their Shoulders
I had some college friends coming in from NYC to visit over the weekend, and of course I took full advantage of it as an excuse to visit a bucket list restaurant. I originally had my sights set on Double Knot, but was shocked that their reservations were booked more than a month out. So after browsing around Open Table for a bit, settled on Noord. I had heard of Noord before as a small restaurant down in the Passyunk area specializing in Scandinavian food with a pretty great reputation.
We got to Noord a few minutes before our reservation and were immediately sat in a cozy four person table by the windows. The restaurant has some pretty dim ambient lighting which makes for a good atmosphere but hard to take pictures without doing some embarrassing light maneuvers.
The specials of the day were hand written on a very cute placard that was brought to our table, and menu was succinct but had enough variety that everyone found something different they wanted to try.
Bread service is complementary and comes with what I think is a whipped beet butter. The bread here is something else. It kind of looks like focaccia but the texture is fluffier and it tastes yeastier. It was incredibly addicting and would prove to be my downfall later on during the dinner. They gave us a piece about the size of an
iPad, which me and my college friend polished off pretty much single handedly. Our other two
dining companions were passing up stuffing their faces with carb heaven for reasons unknown.
The appetizer menu also looked great. I was particularly interested in the smoked fish board and my college friend had her eye on the chopped liver. Thankfully neither of our dining companions are picky eaters, so we got both choices.
The liver got brought out first. To our surprise, it came with these things that looked like powdered beignets. These fluffy little dough balls were perfect ripped open and slathered with the chopped liver. The liver taste was definitely there, but wasn't in your face. The pickled eggs tasted like regular hard boiled eggs, which was a little disappointing. Pickled eggs have been on my to-try list for a while, and these didn't seem like a great example.
The smoked fish board came out and was beautiful. There were three types of smoked seafood on large toasts -- smoked scallop, smoked mussels, and a smoked crab salad. All three tasted great, however the scallop was the clear stand out for me. The scallop flavor was really pronounced and tasted both great on it's own and on the given toast. The other two were tasty as well, but the pickled and smoked flavors overwhelmed the subtle seafood tones. The portions in the photos below look deceivingly small, but these were hefty appetizers.
By this point, I was pretty stuffed. But I was excited to try the mains we had ordered so I soldiered on.
A went with the brisket salad; my college friend got the vinegar rabbit leg, and her sister ordered the sea scallops. Though I had my eye on the scallops, for the sake of variety I got the pork chops. When the main courses came out, they all looked delicious. Though stuffed, I tried a bite of each one so I could tell all our loyal readers about them.
A's brisket was melt in your mouth tender. I normally don't like brisket because I usually find it both tough and dry, but this was seriously good. A mentioned later that he really liked that it came with a salad rather than the usual carb heavy accompaniments, which made the dish feel a lot lighter.
My college friend's rabbit was also fork tender. The sauce had a strong vinegar flavor, which I definitely enjoyed, but probably isn't for everyone.
Her sister's diver scallops were also great. Perfectly cooked, still juicy with a nice sear.
My own dish was a massive pork chop covered with an apple based sauce and set on top of fried potatoes, collards, and a tumeric aoli. I literally took two bites of it and had to tap out because it felt like there was food up to the top of my esophagus. However, I did take it in a to-go box, and could not resist trying it again at 9 am the next morning. It held up extremely well in the fridge and I scarfed the entire pork chop down in 15 minutes with my bare hands. The tumeric aoli was super delicious smothered on everything. Overall, a great dish.
The dessert menu was also hand written on a little placard. Options looked tempting, but given that I didn't even have space for my main course, dessert was not in the cards that night.
Overall, I loved Noord. Everything I tried was wonderful. BYOB is always bonus points. And amazing bread is all of the bonus points. Next time I'll go I'll probably try and pace myself a little better through the meal. Or maybe not, having an extremely tasty box of leftovers isn't exactly a bad thing.
TL;DR - Check out Noord for delicious food, romantic ambience, and to be stuffed to the gills.
